A sweat lodge is a low profile hut, typically dome-shaped or oblong, and made with natural materials. The structure is the lodge, and the ceremony performed within the structure may be called by some cultures a purification ceremony or simply a sweat.

Traditionally the structure is simple, constructed of saplings covered with blankets and sometimes animal skins. The induction of sweating is a spiritual ceremony - it is for prayer and healing, and it is only to be led by Indigenous